There is now 16.1GW of battery storage capacity operating, under construction or in planning in the UK spread across 729 project, new figures from RenewableUK have revealed.
The pipeline has grown rapidly over the last year from 10.5GW of capacity across 600 projects in December 2019.
The latest Energy Storage Project Intelligence report published by the trade association shows there is 1.1GW of operational capacity, up from 0.7GW a year ago. A further 0.6GW is under construction, whilst 8.3GW is consented, 1.6GW is in the planning system and 4.5GW is at an early stage of development.
RenewableUK noted the introduction of legislation that from December has allowed battery storage projects of more than 50MW in England and 350MW in Wales to bypass the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime. Projects of this size were previously required to obtain a development consent order from the secretary of state for energy but can now be approved by local planning authorities.
It has identified three projects with a capacity of 100MW each that have applied for consent from local planning authorities since this “artificial ceiling” was removed.
The trade body said there is an additional 6GW of liquefied and compressed air, pumped hydro, flywheel and gravity-based storage operating, under construction or in planning in the UK, bringing the overall storage pipeline to more than 22GW.
RenewableUK director of future electricity system Barnaby Wharton said: “We’re already seeing grid-scale batteries of 50MW being built, providing valuable flexibility to the grid, and we expect many projects with an even larger capacity will be submitted into the planning system following the removal of the 50MW cap.
“There’s no doubt that the energy storage market will continue to grow as we scale up using a variety of innovative technologies – not just lithium batteries but also flywheels, compressed air, liquid air and gravity-based storage. This cutting-edge technology is another example of how the UK is a world leader in building modern power systems.
“However, many of our projects need access to capital at a lower cost and more stable revenues. We’re hoping that the forthcoming update to the Smart System and Flexibility Plan will set out how the government envisages making revenue streams for storage projects clearer. We also need a stable network charging regime and a long-term vision for the sector to encourage further investment by cutting-edge companies”.